I’ve never come upon a grizzly bear while hiking in the backcountry, and that’s just fine with me. I’ve backpacked a time or two in grizzly country, but never in Yellowstone or Glacier. I just know that I’d be wide-eyed all night, bear spray at the ready, waiting for…well…you know: Night of the Grizzlies. I do hike in grizzly country, but I’m definitely on my guard the whole time. And, even though I’m not a huge fan of winter, one of its perks is that the bears are sleeping. Usually.

Go to sleep, giant grizzly!

Last December we arrived back at our car after a long ski in Yellowstone, and turned around to find this fellow on the hill above us. For cripe’s sake. Now, I know that bears don’t really sleep all winter, and that they sometimes get up and wander around (or take a long time to actually start to hibernate) but I was just counting on the odds of actually meeting one being in my favor. And I guess they were, since we didn’t run into him on the trail. And I’ve got to say, he really wasn’t particularly interested in us – he just kept on his way, without a glance in our direction. And he was one good looking bear.

We just returned from a bear-less weekend in Yellowstone, and it was beautiful. I think the pictures tell the story best:

135 Responses to Yellowstone in Winter: Let Sleeping Grizzlies Lie

Oh my, it would be rather scary to meet a big old grizzly, but how exciting too. Your trip to Yellowstone looks wonderful, I’ve always wanted to go – such spectacular wildlife – and your photos make me want to drop everything and go right now. Those coyotes are fabulous! xx

When I visited Yellowstone in 1995 there was a visitor notice that said if you come across a grizzly, don’t run, don’t provoke it just back away slowly and try to make yourself look as big as possible. Good advice but impossible to follow I would guess!

Breathtaking photos. I’ve never been to Yellowstone, but it’s high up on my places to visit; your photos just re-confirmed how much I would love to go sometime! Thanks for sharing and congrats on being freshly pressed!

I laughed when I read that you didn’t know bears didn’t necessarily hibernate all winter. I’ve just moved onto my perfect forested patch on top of my perfect mountain and didn’t realize before now that they’re NOT NOCTURNAL. This city girl has a lot to learn!

In MT our winters been so stickin warm and un-snowy that lots of bears have yet to den up. Not sure what they’re eating here in Glacier that makes it worth their while (that Yellowstone one will probably be stealing kills from wolves until the snow gets deeper).

Beautiful pictures…. really enjoyed seeing them. I visited Yellowstone back in 2001. Had the privilege of seeing a mama grizzly with two cubs on the side of the road. Couldn’t believe how close people were getting with their cameras though! YIKES!! Thought I would witness a mauling for sure… thank goodness I didn’t!

Reblogged this on Colby is Mega and commented:
I love winter and Yellowstone National Park! This post was beautifully written and I loved the photos! I couldn’t help myself from re blogging this post! Enjoy

Wow – that is so amazing! I could only imagine how much my heart would be racing running into him! When I cycled across Canada, I was desperate to see a moose. I was all alone in Northern Ontario when I saw a brown mass on the side of the road. Disappointed that it appeared to be a dead moose, I kept on pedalling (did I mention it was slightly uphill too!!!) Anyway, got close to the moose and I guess I made some noise – next thing you know – a bear stands up! Needless to say, there are no pictures – heart practically jumping from my chest – I was pedalling as hard as I could to get out of there! Guess the bear didn’t care much for spandex – he took off in the other direction!
Great photos – looks like a great outing!

These are some great shots; it’s amazing what you can find out there in the world around us. There are so many amazing things – on this planet – we just have to open up to it. Great post and I look forward to sharing more with you:))

I LIVE HERE! and yes, I can tell you that walking out the door of your home and meeting up with one of our local bears, moose or mountain lions is an interesting way to wake up…quickly. HA HA! Great photos, thanks for sharing!

I have been to Yellowstone twice, but never in the winter. These pictures are beautiful! We have just started backpacking as a family (our youngest is 9). Thank you for sharing. This gives us something to work toward!

Great photos and story of Yellowstone in winter! It’s been over 10 years since I was there in winter (I was part of the Buffalo Field Campaign, stopping the bison from leaving the park so they wouldn’t be shot by the Montana Department of Livestock!), and I remember vividly how beautiful it is. And so cold….!!

Wow, great to see that many different animals in 1 ski trip! It’s never happened to us…and I’m so glad never to even think of encountering a bear. We have encountered bear twice on different trips …in the summer.

Your blog shares some of the same animals as my blog’s recent posts since we’ve been to the Canadian Rockies several times. I don’t have a bear photo just story…

My husband and I took a trip there in late Feb three years ago and there was a grizzly awake, out and about in the Old Faithful area. We too were a little surprised, but not so much that the bear was awake, but rather that not one staff member warned us. We found out later the bear had been seen for three days in the area! Nonetheless, we had a wonderful time and can’t wait to go back.

Oh, my dream is to one day go to Yellowstone… So many animals in their natural environment, it’s so great 🙂 You’re very lucky! 😀 I invite you to my blog to see how winter looks in the Polish mountains. Not as beautiful as in Yellowstone, but also delightfully 🙂 Greetings from Poland! 🙂

Thanks for the nice comment. Bear spray is just pressurized pepper spray that you can carry when you hike. The idea is that you spray it at the bear if he’s attacking and they run away. You hope so, anyway. I think it does work pretty well, though!

Enjoyed looking at your blog – my husband and I taught English in Xian for a semester way back in 1990. Can especially relate to “What, there are still stars?” I remember a guide telling a tour group that Xian was one of the ten best polluted cities in the world.

Thanks, I appreciate it. I was in Xi’an last May, and the pollution is still really bad. I live in Beijing, and it’s a big problem here too. I have a lot of respiratory problems that I didn’t have before I moved here.

Sorry about the typo in my first post. Meant to say, “I’ve never seen any bears … .”

I met my 1st grizzlies in Kantishna Alaska (90 miles interior Denali Park) during a late snow that had closed the road. Heart stopping! I am filled with joy and wonder every time I look at my close-up photo of that momma bear and her cub. Yellowstone in winter is still on the bucket list. Thanks for sharing. ( you can see my bear memory at belladaze.etsy.com )

Wow, very cool. Enjoyed checking out your blog. We heard the Canyon pack howling on one of the nights we were in Mammoth, and when I looked out the window one of the wolves was standing in the road. Didn’t mention them in this post, but the watching the wolves is just fascinating. Thanks for the comment.

Nice post. We took our kids all over Yellowstone last June and thoroughly enjoyed our visit. We saw several grizzlies-all from a safe distance (sometimes the camera’s zoom lens couldn’t get more than a brown lump-binoculars worked fine though).

I had never been in the wild but that makes think about Jack Lang’ stories, that I’ve much loved.”The call of the wild” for instance. The most amazing book I ever read was written by Cary Paulsen “Brian’s winter”. And now you are showing us beautiful landscapes and some wild animals. Thanks for this nice post.

That’s cool. Last time I passed through Yellowstone was about tens years ago while moving to Alaska. It was a pretty cool place but it was the summer and tourists were all over the place. It would be cool to get out there in the winter when no one is around. Thanks for sharing.

I love Yellowstone… However my luck with grizzlies was quite different — on four different hikes in the summer of 2005 we saw them. Once, one even blocked the path back to our car. It wasn’t the best introduction to hiking to my four year old son, but it did teach us all caution, respect, and above all the importance of the willingness to hike long distances out of your way to get back to your car.